Estina
by WolfRune20855
Summary: Estina is a nobody. Actually, she's less than a nobody. She's an orphan. When a strange wanderer offered her the chance to look for her parents, how can she refuse. But happens when she finds out information that she doesn't want to know?
1. 19 years earlier

_A dark haired woman stood looking down at the basket in front of her. A baby girl slept peacefully. Her eyes close, oblivious to the rest of the world. "Have we made the right choice?" Asked the woman to the man behind her._

_"There is nothing else to do. If the others found out..." The man trailed off and placed his hands on his wife's shoulders, trying to comfort her. _

_"She will never know us." A single tear fell from the woman's eye and landed on the baby girl. The child stirred in her sleep. _

_"It is for the better." The man swallowed a sob. "She will have a normal life here. What kind of life would she have with us? And if she ever found out about us her powers would show."_

_The woman picked up her daughter and gently stroked her face. "She is the spitting image of you." She told her husband._

_"But with your eyes." He smiled. "Besides we'll never really leave her." _

_The woman smiled back. "I suppose not." She set down her baby girl and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight Estina." She gripped her husband's hand and together they disappeared into the dark. _

_Nothing was left but a infant girl in a little basket and a small nightingale bird sitting on top of the old orphanage roof that had watched the whole exchange._


	2. Chapter 1

"Some more drinks over here." A pesky traveler shouted already half drunk. I rolled my eyes and rushed to refill the costumer's drink and almost gagged at the smell of him. He was very obviously drunk.

"Three septims." I told him. I had seen his purse getting lighter and lighter all night. He had a drinking problem, I doubted that he had that many septims left. I wouldn't of been surprised if a member of the thieves guild had lifted what remained in his purse, after all there where at least three in the inn.

"Come on girl," He whined, "you won't even give an old traveler some good Black-Briar Mead."

"You have to pay." I put on my best I-want-to-kill-you-but-I-can't-because-you're-a-costumer voice and glared at him. I had been having trouble with him all night.

"I need another-" his protest stopped short as he saw my eyes turn from midnight blue to silver. He handed over the coin.

"Thank you." I smiled and refilled his tankard. I walked back and joined Keerava at the counter.

"You scared him properly." She laughed.

I shrugged. "He won't pester us anymore."

"That's what I keep you around for." The Argonian smiled.

Four years ago I had been cast out of the Riften Orphanage, the place where I grew up. I had planned on going out and searching for my parents or a relative of theirs, but a few thing had gotten in the way. Money mostly. I had lived for a short while on the streets taking random jobs until Keerava had hired me at the Bee-and-Barb. I had been working there ever since.

"Estina, can you go see if that chap in the corner is going to buy anything or if he's just going to sit here all night?" Keerava ordered more than asked.

"Sure." I said and then noticed who the "custumer" was.

He was a dark elf and had been sitting there all night, not moving an inch. His red eyes glanced nervously around the room every so often as if he was looking for someone. To be honest, he scared me. I had encountered a decent number of dark elves and had mixed emotions about them, but this wanderer was different. He had a different air to him. It was not proud but not scared either. I didn't know what to think. He was so strange, yet I felt like I'd seen him before.

I rubbed my amulet of Talos and briskly walked over to him. "Are you going to order anything?" I asked. He didn't move. "Are you going to order anything?" I repeted. He looked up at me.

"What?"

I heaved a sigh. "I asked if you are-"

"Going to order anything." He finished my sentence. "I know." He winked at me.

Why would he wink at me?

"Well, are you?" I was fuming. I had never had a good temper.

"You're the girl who confronted Hlard over there, right?" He pointed towards the Nord I'd just talked to. Apparently he knew his name. I nodded. "How did you do the thing?"

"What thing?" I had no clue what he was talking about. He was starting to scare me.

"The thing with you eyes." The dumner sounded awed almost. "The thing where they went from blue to silver."

My jaw dropped. I didn't think anyone but the Nord had noticed, and he was to superstitious to tell anybody. "I don't know." I said.

"Come on. It's got to be some sort of spell, right?" He asked.

"No." I replied coldly.

"Then what is it?"

"Why does it even matter to you?" I asked. He was really scaring me now. The last person who'd noticed my eye flare had tried to kill me. Before he could answer I interrupted. "Now are you going to buy anything?"

"No." He replied and looked back down at the table.

I finally breathed in a sigh of relief with those unnerving eyes off me. "Then I will have to ask you to leave." I said.

He stood up, "What's your name?"

Without thinking I gave it to him. "Estina."

"Nice to meet you Estina. I'm Relam." He said, and then left the inn.

As he exited the inn, a boy walked in carrying a big crate of Black-briar mead. "Two hundred septims." The delivery boy said heaving the crate onto the counter.

"Two hundred? Last time it was one." Keerava looked over the delivery boy. "Does Maven think that I will pay this much for mead?"

"There are other inns that want this mead." The boy shrugged. "I could always give it to them."

"I'll give you one fifty." She seemed to want to bargain her way out of the deal.

"I'm sorry mam. Two hundred. That's what Maven said." The boy replied.

I walked up behind Keerava. "You can't defy Maven." I told her. "The Black-briars run this city. The jarl satisfies their every whim and they've got the thieves guild in their pocket."

From the corner of the room Brynjolf glanced up. "I wouldn't say that lass."

"Why?" I asked. Brynjolf was known to be one of the thieves guild, even though nobody had been able to prove it.

He stood up and walked over to the counter. "Thieves Guild has new management, and let's just say the new guild master isn't very fond of Maven." Brynjolf smiled to himself as if remembering something.

The delivery boy swallowed. "One hundred fifty it is." He said and bolted out of the inn.

"New management?" I asked Brynjolf, "Who is it?" The thief smiled mischievously. "Alright, keep your secrets to yourself then." I told him.

He spread his arms wide. "You can read me like a book." He said and headed back to his table. As he passed me he whispered. "You just kicked him out of the inn Estina."


	3. Chapter 2

I trudged up to my little room, that was little more than a closet, and sat down on my bed. I was exhausted. It was four in the morning. Usually we got done around two, for some reason we'd gone later into the night this time. Maybe it was because of the Moon Festival coming up. There where all kinds of strangers in town to enjoy the festivities.

The Moon Festival was a Riften tradition. According to people who went to the other holds we were the only ones who had one. The Moon Festival happened every year around midwinter. Extra merchants would come into town, and we'd have a few caravans at the gate. The festival lasted three days. Every day there would be games to play, feasts to eat, and many dances all around town. Riften usually doubled in size around this time of year. Already, our rooms were all filled. The Moon Festival started tomorrow.

Today, I reminded myself, the Moon Festival starts today. I sighed and layed down on my hard mattress, not bothering to take my shoes off. After all, I still had to go back to work in two hours.

* * *

"I don't think we've ever been this busy." Talen-Jei looked over the crowd with amazement. The Bee and Barb was crowded. So many people had arrived over night or early this morning.

"It definitely is good for business." I said with a smile. "They'll be upset that we don't have any rooms though."

"That reminds me," said Talen-Jei, "I rented your room out. You can stay in the cellar." I nodded; this happened every year.

"That means I should go move my things." I darted up the stairs and into my little room. It was freezing. Whoever had rented it would have a hard night. I reached under my bed and pulled out my small bag of belongings. Not much was in it; two changes of clothes and my earnings from my time at the inn.

A small chirp came from the window. I looked up to see a small nightingale bird sitting on the sill, it's wing hanging limply at its side. I reached up and pulled the small bird down. "It's okay." I coaxed it as I examined its wing. It was broken. I tore a strip of cloth from my dress and tied it around the bird's wing. The nightingale chirped happily. I set the bird down on my bed. "Don't move." I said and ran downstairs to put my things in the cellar.

"Estina give this to those men over there." Keerava handed me three bowls of steaming hot soup to give to a group of Redgaurd men sitting at one of the nearby tables. I darted over to the table and set the soup down.

"What's this?" Asked the largest of the group.

"Soup." I answered, sometimes costumers could ask the strangest questions.

The man rolled his eyes rather angry with me. "I know it's soup. I didn't ask for soup. I asked for salmon."

We didn't have very much salmon, still I didn't want to anger a customer. "I'm sorry about that." I said and took the soup.

"You better be." The man stuck out his foot and tripped me. I fell on the ground. Hot soup spilled all over me drenching my dress through. The man and his friends laughed. Apparently it was very funny.

"Was there a need to do that?" Brynjolf asked the men from a table over.

"The wench messed up." He said.

Brynjolf shook his head. "Keerava messed up. Estina did nothing."

The man faced Brynjolf and seemed to realize for the first time who exactly he was. Two years ago the Thieves Guild was a joke. They had been practically removed and were pretty much extinct. Now, however, the Thieves Guild was a very powerful force in Riften and the man knew what Brynjolf's Thieves Guild armor meant. "I'm sorry." He said to Brynjolf, which was basically the equivalent of 'please don't hurt me'.

Brynjolf chuckled and helped me up from the floor. I noticed he pulled a rather large purse out of the man's pocket. "I've got a job for you lass." He whispered.

I pulled a carrot from my hair. "Any chance that this job is legal?" I asked.

He smiled. "Is any job that I give you ever legal?"

* * *

I moved silently through the crowded streets, my feet not making a sound. I could of easily blundered around and nobody would of notice, but I didn't want to. There was something magical about silence, something enchanting. I weaved my was through the crowd of bodies. Through street venders selling goods and jugglers entertaining the children.

I spotted several Thieves Guild members making peoples pockets lighter. I smiled to myself, years ago I had figured out a way to fool the Guild. I carried two purses with me. My real coin purse was small, tiny even, and it hooked on the the sleeve of my dress. Most people didn't notice it. To a trained eye it looked like a distraction, a lie to keep one away from the real prize. The less experienced members went for my other purse, and the more experienced knew that I could steal coin quicker and more stealthily than they could.

I ducked in to a small house as a guard passed by. The house had been recently bought by the new Thane. I had never seen him, but most people said that he was dedicated to helping them. I didn't believe them, men were hardly after anything but personal gain. Brynjolf wanted me to steal an unusual potion from the house.

I pulled out my lock picks and checked the area, nobody looked at me a second time. To them I seemed invisible. I pulled the lock picks until I heard the satisfying click of the lock. I went through the door and was surprised by what I saw.

The house was very nicely furnished. In the twelve years that I had been doing jobs for Brynjolf I had never seen a house so beautiful, not even the Blackbrairs'. It was light by a huge fire in the kitchen. Next to the kitchen was a bedroom. There was a small staircase leading downstairs. Brynjolf had said that there was a rare and very valuable potion downstairs that I was to get.

I moved swiftly through the house, careful to keep to the shadows so as not to be seen. There might of been a House Carl in the house. I pulled the rare potion Brynjolf had described to me off of the shelf in the Alchemy Lab, sticking it ever so carefully in to my pocket.

"If I wasn't looking for you, I wouldn't be able to see you." I turned around to see the elf, Relam, facing me. I straitened. I had been caught. I would almost definitely go to jail, trespassing and stealing tended to get one there.

"What do you want?" I asked the leader of the Thieves Guild.

He sat down in a leather chair. I couldn't help but think of how expensive it was. My thoughts usually went to the price of an item. I tried again and again not to think of it, but price always crept back in to the corners of my mind. "I don't suppose you'd join the Guild?" He asked hopefully. I shook my head, if there was one thing that I would not do it as join the Thieves Guild. "Brynjolf told me that you wouldn't." He said. "Told me that he'd already asked you to. It's a shame. Such a waste of good talent."

His comment almost brought a smile to my face. "What do you want?" I asked once again.

"You repeat yourself a lot." He commented. "You want to find out about your family." He said. I nodded, wondering how he knew that but then figuring that Brynjolf had probably told him. "I offer you the chance to find out about them." He said, surprising me. "I would pay for it, and we'd go on a quest."

"A quest?" I raised an eyebrow.

He nodded. "Yes, a quest."

"What's the catch?" I asked. There was always a catch, especially when you where dealing with the Thieves Guild.

"Afterwards you join the Guild." He said. I took in a sharp breath, I did not want to join the Guild. However, my want to find my parents outweighed my thoughts about the Guild. I nodded. He smiled. "Good," he said. "I'll be by in the morning. Be ready by then." He stood up and left. Leaving me alone with only my thoughts and a potion that I was pretty sure Brynjolf didn't need.


End file.
